The definitive guide to the 2014 NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Once the most beloved part of NBA All-Star Weekend, the dunk contest has fallen off in recent years thanks to too many props and gimmicks and not enough star power. That will change this year.

The 2014 dunk contest participants were announced Thursday night, and the field is the strongest it’s been in years. It’s a great mix of under-the-radar players and stars, skewing young but with enough established talent to hold casual fans’ interest. And most importantly, everyone in the contest this year has some terrific highlight dunks on their résumé.

In a strange twist, the NBA has announced a new set of rules for this year’s contest, with the three players from each conference competing as teams for two different themed rounds.

Here’s who’s in and what we can expect from each of them:

TERRENCE ROSS

Tom Szczerbowski, USA TODAY Sports

Last year’s champion was a no-brainer to defend his title in New Orleans. What was refreshing about Ross’ performance in 2013 was how devoid it was of pointless props. Sometimes, just a simple behind-the-back windmill will get the job done.

Even when he employed the played-out “jumping over another person” move in his victory-clinching dunk, he still did a between-the-legs dunk reminiscent of fellow Raptor Vince Carter’s legendary 2000 dunk-contest performance.

Ross recently had one of the better in-game dunks of the season, a poster jam on Denver Nuggets forward (and 2013 dunk contest participant) Kenneth Faried.

Ross was excellent in his dunk contest debut, and there’s no reason to believe it will be any different this time around.

DAMIAN LILLARD

Craig Mitchelldyer, USA TODAY Sports

All-Star Weekend in New Orleans is going to be Lillard’s coming-out party for a lot of fans. The Portland Trail Blazers point guard will be the first player in the history of the weekend to participate in all five major events: the All-Star game (where he was selected as a reserve), the dunk contest, the Rising Stars challenge, the three-point shootout and the point guard skills competition (which he won last year). It’s a heavy workload for the 2013 Rookie of the Year, but he’s having a terrific sophomore campaign and the Blazers are a surprising playoff contender.

How Lillard will actually fare in the dunk contest remains to be seen. He’s a good in-game dunker, but more in the sense that it’s impressive a 6-foot-3 guy can jump that high than because of any acrobatic feats.

His skillset as a dunker may not translate to the format of the contest. But Lillard is athletic and creative, and he’s been doubted his whole life. He could pleasantly surprise.

BEN McLEMORE

Kelvin Kuo, USA TODAY Sports

If you’re looking for a dark horse, McLemore could be your guy. When the words “Ben McLemore” and “monster dunk” appear in the same sentence, it’s easy to think about the Sacramento Kings rookie’s unfortunate posterization at the hands of LeBron James earlier this season. But McLemore is ridiculously athletic, even if he’s struggled in his first season.

His explosiveness was apparent in his freshman season at the University of Kansas, which was a large part of why he was such an enticing pro prospect in the first place.

And as bad as the Kings have been this season, he’s had the chance to throw down a few highlight dunks:

McLemore is the only rookie in this year’s contest, and by far the least well-known among the group. This is a perfect opportunity for him to raise his profile nationally. He’s certainly got the talent.

JOHN WALL

Evan Habeeb, USA TODAY Sports

Like Lillard, Wall is making his first All-Star appearance this season. Like Lillard, much of the power of Wall’s dunks comes from his small size and leaping ability. But Wall has shown much more of a flair for the theatrical in his in-game dunks, pulling out 360’s on fast breaks.

When the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge inevitably turned into a glorified dunk contest, Wall did not disappoint with this behind-the-back maneuver.

Wall is having a career year, proving himself worth the five-year, $80 million extension he signed during the summer. He’s only in his fourth year, but there’s no doubt that Wall is going to be a star in the NBA for a long time. His combination of untapped potential and undeniable star power makes him a perfect fit for the dunk contest.

HARRISON BARNES

Justin Ford, USA TODAY Sports

The selection of Barnes makes sense on a lot of levels. He’s a likable young player on a popular, playoff-contending Warriors team. He’s got the athleticism to theoretically make him a good contest dunker. He’s very brand-conscious, going back to his days at North Carolina. Of course he was going to do the dunk contest at some point.

Barnes’ most iconic in-game dunk is this posterization of Timberwolves center Nikola Pekovic from his rookie year.

Barnes has been doing this since long before he got the NBA, though. He was a top-rated prospect coming out of high school and had plenty of highlights at North Carolina.

Barnes may be the most impressive dunker in the contest, but he’s unlikely to be a dud, either.

PAUL GEORGE

Richard Mackson, USA TODAY Sports

George’s participation is the big news. The NBA hasn’t had a legitimate superstar in the dunk contest since Dwight Howard in 2009 (unless you want to count Blake Griffin’s glorified Kia commercial in 2011). This will be George’s second time doing it, but in 2012, he was a well-regarded but largely second-year player. Now, he’s popular enough to be voted an All-Star starter, and the Pacers are title contenders. His participation this year means more this year. He’s a big enough name that he doesn’t have to do it, but he’s choosing to.

George’s 2012 dunk-contest routine featured one of the most bizarre events in recent NBA history: a glow-in-the-dark dunk that was much cooler in theory than it was in execution.

From what we can make out, he did a 360-degree windmill dunk, not too different from the one he threw down against the Clippers last month.

It’s the same dunk, but look how much more impressive it is when you can actually see what he’s doing. This dunk probably would have won the last two dunk contests, but the glow-in-the-dark suit represented all of the worst aspects of the competition’s recent move to a prop-based event. It was just too gimmicky.

Now that George is an MVP candidate, he can cement his superstar status among fans all over the world with a great performance at the dunk contest.

Once the most beloved part of NBA All-Star Weekend, the dunk contest has fallen off in recent years thanks to too many props and gimmicks (…)

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